St. Therese ‘Little Flower’ continues to lead faithful to Christ

RARITAN TOWNSHIP – Almost 150 years after Marie-Francoise-Therese Martin was born in Alencon, France, the girl who would become St. Therese of Lisieux remains an example that one can pursue holiness in ordinary life despite suffering from ill health or other challenges. 

On Oct. 1, the feast day of St. Therese or ‘Little Flower,’ her followers packed the chapel at the Carmel of Mary Immaculate and St. Mary Magdalen, home of the Discalced Carmelite nuns, to seek her intercession at the annual Blessing of the Roses prayer service. 

The service included exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, liturgy of the word, adoration, novena prayers, benediction and the blessing and distribution of roses along with a chance to venerate a relic of St. Therese. 

St. Therese was the youngest of nine children in her family -- five of whom died in early childhood – who became a Carmelite nun like her four sisters. She died of tuberculosis in 1997. 

According to Mother Mary Elizabeth, prioress of the monastery, her feast day is an important date because she is invoked by the religious community’s novices “as ‘Our Heavenly Novice Mistress,’ and the Church has given her an official title of Doctor of the Church because her writings contain solid teaching to foster a life of simple prayer and union with God, which is open to everyone.” 

“St. Therese desired to spend her heaven in doing good on earth saying that she would send a ‘shower of roses’ upon those who invoke her help in any need. The rose is a symbol of the blessings she obtains from God for us,” Mother Mary Elizabeth said. 

As he has done for the past several years, James Beach, a benefactor, donated about 650 roses in memory of his “beloved mother” for the service, Mother Mary Elizabeth said. Each year, the garland of roses on the statue of St. Therese is given to one of the Carmel’s benefactors as a prayerful expression of their gratitude, she added. 

Auxiliary Bishop Manuel A. Cruz of the Archdiocese of Newark presided at the liturgy. He was first invited to the Carmel more than 40 years ago and noted in his opening remarks he has a special place in his heart for the Carmelites, a community of cloistered, contemplative religious under solemn vows. 

Carmelite Father Eugene J. Bettinger, priest in residence, Church of the Assumption, Emerson, gave the homily. 

In his homily, Father Bettinger noted that 2023 is not only the 150th anniversary of St. Therese’s birth, but the 200th of her father, Louis. He and his wife, Zelie, were canonized on the same day by Pope Francis, the first time in Church history that a husband and wife received the declaration together. 

Her relics and those of her family are scheduled to visit the shrine of St. Therese in Darien, Ill., Sept. 16-Oct. 1, 2023. ext year will also be the 100th anniversary of her beatification and The Society of the Little Flower.  

In preparation for the liturgy, Father Bettinger said he read the sworn testimonies of St. Therese’s sisters, Pauline, Marie and Celine, which were given to the Commission on the Servant of God in 1910. Their testimonies to 30 questions were included in the book, “St. Therese of Lisieux, By Those Who Knew Her.” The subtitle led him to share how he came to know St. Therese and asked the faithful how they came to know her. She entered his life when he was 22 days old in 1947. 

“On my baptismal day, my godparents posed for a photo in my bedroom, where they held me in front of the devotional picture of St. Therese that was above my bed, where it was during my childhood,” he said.  

“Fast forward into my teen years and I accompanied my pastor as his server on his Silver Jubilee pilgrimage that he led in Europe in 1965… to Lisieux to the Carmel there, where we were granted a tour of the cloister and Therese’s room.  

“Two years later, I joined the Carmelite Friars in Niagara Falls, Ontario, the Canadian Shrine of St. Therese. I was one of the postulants at 20 years old known as ‘A Little Flower’ seminarian supported by the Society of the Little Flower.  

“Then, 50 years ago this month, I became the first intern in the oldest church dedicated to Therese that opened the year she was beatified, 1923.” 

Father Bettinger asked the congregation if they have ever received “her famous spiritual flowers confirming her promise of showering us with her rose?” 

“Think about her in your life as a member of the communion of saints,” he said. “When have you felt she has been attentive to you in your needs? If it has been notable, share that with others.  

“Today, you will receive a rose. May it signify for you her promise of being present on earth even as she is in the heavenly realm.  

“Relationships are meant to grow closer in the communion of saints. We can all get to know Therese more by pondering her sayings in her autobiography, poems, and plays that she wrote; her letters, and through those, like her sisters, who knew her.  

“We can invoke her help and give thanks for prayers answered. She loved praying for priests like me and fellow believers like you.”  

According to the Carmelites’ website, “By their style and way of life, they express their call to follow the Lord ever more closely in silence and solitude. Prayer, both communal and solitary, is the center of this life. 

“The Carmel chooses to maintain strict enclosure, wear the full habit as a sign of poverty and consecration to God, and preserves many of the traditional monastic observances. The lifestyle is simple and austere, but not excessively so. Two daily hours of recreation enrich and enliven community living. In the words of St. Therese herself… ‘Lord, deliver us from gloomy saints!’”